Not long ago, I found a homemade flyer inside my mailbox. “Got a kid?” it read. “Need a break? Available on weekends and during school vacation. So call me maybe!” This was the handiwork of my fourteen-year-old neighbor, Simone, whoShow More Summary

In the earliest days of this blog, I declared David R. Bunch to be "unjustly neglected". This was true back then, but not nearly as true as it is today, when all his books are out of print and usually sell for high prices on the secondary market (if you can find them). Show More Summary

They've announced that Mathias Énard will receive the 2017 Leipziger Buchpreis zur Europäischen Verständigung, for his prix Goncourt-winning novel, Compass.
This now-€20,000 award has a solid list of previous winners -- right down to...Show More Summary

They've announced the longlist for the PEN Translation Prize -- a solid selection, and a good variety, dominated, of course, by smaller presses.
Several of the titles are under review at the complete review (and I should be getting to...Show More Summary

I’m sharing some of my favorite reads of 2016. See them all here. Yes, Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed is a 600-page book of interviews with Werner Herzog. Yes, 600 pages worth of hardcover text is a hell of a lot of time to spend with anybody. But you’ve got to admit, Herzog Continue Reading

An interesting piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, where Susan Wyndham discusses The hidden costs that threaten Australian literary awards -- much of which applies elsewhere too.
Many literary prizes have submission fees, and/or require...Show More Summary

I’m sharing some of my favorite reads of 2016. See them all here. I sometimes think of Žižek’s books as a series of cultural readings in search of a thesis. It’s not that Žižek doesn’t have a thesis for each book, it’s more that he prefers to let it well up through the texture of Continue Reading

They announced the winner of one of the big Russian prizes last week, the 'Russian Booker' -- though oddly the news still hasn't appeared at the official site, last I checked.
But Lizok's Bookshelf, as usual, has you covered -- and it's...Show More Summary

The Modern Language Association awards all sorts prizes for publications, and they've now announced the latest batch of winners (some of the prizes are biennial, some annual); see the press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
One...Show More Summary

Aaron Gilbreath’s collection of essays, Everything We Don’t Know, was recently published by Curbside Splendor. Let’s be real: some people are difficult to work with. They don’t listen. They tell… Continue reading ?

I’m sharing some of my favorite reads of 2016. See them all here. Megan Abbott is definitely a noir writer worthy of anyone’s time. Earlier this year I made my introduction to her work with Die a Little, and I wrote it up. Strong recommend. One of the reasons I love editing The Quarterly Conversation Continue Reading

At The Paris Review Ane Farsethås' The Art of Fiction-Q & A with the great Dag Solstad is now fully and freely available.
As longtime readers know, I am a huge fan -- and several Solstad novels are under review at the complete review...Show More Summary

At Words without Borders' Daily weblog Nathalie Handal has a Q & A, The City and the Writer: In Vienna with Ann Cotten.
Cotten will be appearing at the New Literature from Europe Festival that runs 7 to 10 December in New York.
I recently...Show More Summary

My short story, “The Necrophiliac’s Almanac,” which surrounds a closeted necrophile struggling to contain her desires, appears in the Nov/Dec 2016 issue of the Kenyon Review. As part of my… Continue reading ?

In “Pardon Edward Snowden,” your story in this week’s issue, the poet Mark McCain is invited to sign a “poetition” requesting that President Obama pardon Edward Snowden. The poetition is a bad poem. What’s the worst petition that you’ve been personally asked to sign?